I actually thought the Pred got a piece of it, when seeing the replays, and it was the right call. But slick hands in tight by Bennett, poor guy.

Also saw some people complaining about the 5 on 3, but those are 2 legit trips. Stripes weren’t bad tonight.

Nice to see a solid 60 min, continuing with pace and not allowing a push from the Preds.

Most of all, nice to see a team look so good this early in the year.

But even still, the Predators player may have just touched the puck. It certainly was not a play on which to blow the whistle, and in numerous other games we have seen similar plays continue until the opposing team has had more obvious, deliberate contact with the puck.

Vallimaki is ahead of Andersson at this point. Both will make mistakes, but Valimaki doesn't hesitate, he seems to know what he wants to do always.

Andersson had a few times where he held it too long or forced something that wasn't there.

Either way pretty crazy to think the team is likely a month or two away from having two 21 year olds and a 20 year defenseman on the roster full time.

Agree on Rasmus. He seemed to be a bit overwhelmed during the first period. Had a lot of pucks die on his stick and also seemed to be making errant passes to no one. Looks like he settled down midway through the second. He sticks out though, as he seems built like a brick wall. Hoping his conditioning issues are a thing of the past.

Great writeup as usual! That game was what a lot of us were really excited to see when we saw this roster on paper. What's even more exciting is that they're looking this good with an entire line still in need of hitting the scoresheet. Neal will get going soon, and if Bennett keeps bringing this kind of game he's going to have a year.

Something I really liked seeing was how effective Peluso was with the time he was given. He didn't need to see the ice often, but when he was out he was very effective. He created a great chance with a heavy forecheck that showed our depth isn't hurt too terribly when he's out there. It's tough to say what impact he had on the game, but if he's not a negative out there I can't say I didn't like the end result!

I think we're going to have to stop seeing a night off as a negative with a roster like this. I think if there's a need for Peluso that night, he's shown to be a part of the depth that will allow them to roll 4 lines. I could see Dube, Jankowski, Bennett and Frolik cycling nights off depending on the team they're playing against and how they're doing... and maybe someone locked into the top-9 could use a night off to let a few things heal up.

At risk of killing his momentum, I'd love to see Dube get a chance to watch the game if he doesn't get on the scoresheet soon. Hopefully this can be an advantage or a breather, opposed to the punishment a night off usually is.

Imagine if Neal could watch and dissect the Blues game Thursday and Jankowski draws back in. The obvious response will be 'Neal is benched', and I'm sure he'd rather play than watch... but if we're going to treat this like a business and we ignore what a night off usually means... this could be a positive for Neal (I'm not saying bench neal Thursday, FYI. It's too early for this NOT to misconstrued as a negative).

But if we had that mentality:
@ Blues: Neal out
@ Avalanche: Peluso out
vs Bruins: Dube out
vs. Predators: TBD

^Re: Dube taking a night off to watch. It helped Gaudreau immensely after 6 games in his first season. Definitely not the worst thing. Not necessarily punishment for a rookie, it can be a development tool.

^Re: Dube taking a night off to watch. It help Gaudreau immensely after 6 games in jis first season. Definitely not the worst thing. Not necessarily punishment for a rookie, it can be a development tool.

Yeah, but Dube has been far more effective than Gaudreau was in that initial stint. I think he's better served with ice time at the moment. For different reasons I think neal is the same. He's not going to learn anything in the press box. He needs consistent time with a centre IMO. That centre should probably be Backlund but Czarnik has been so good it's hard to do that.

Right now they have one more player than spots, if Peluso keeps up his decent play (he's obviously the most likely to drop off).

^Re: Dube taking a night off to watch. It helped Gaudreau immensely after 6 games in his first season. Definitely not the worst thing. Not necessarily punishment for a rookie, it can be a development tool.

It really turned his season. Oct 17, 2014 he sat and the next game was 1G 1A. He'd finish the month with 6 pts in 6 games, and a damn good season.

"The standout rookie went pointless in the first five games of the season, averaging 12:56 in ice-time, one shot and a plus-2 rating." and the poll was 64% that this was a good idea... so maybe this will be much better received than I thought

Yeah, but Dube has been far more effective than Gaudreau was in that initial stint. I think he's better served with ice time at the moment. For different reasons I think neal is the same. He's not going to learn anything in the press box. He needs consistent time with a centre IMO. That centre should probably be Backlund but Czarnik has been so good it's hard to do that.

Right now they have one more player than spots, if Peluso keeps up his decent play (he's obviously the most likely to drop off).

Why do you think that is?

I would bet that a players preference is to work it out on the ice, but I think watching the game is very advantageous. If someone on this roster has to sit it out, there's a lot that player can take away from a night off.

I would bet that a players preference is to work it out on the ice, but I think watching the game is very advantageous. If someone on this roster has to sit it out, there's a lot that player can take away from a night off.

Because Neal is 31-years-old and has been playing professional hockey at the highest level for more than a decade. GioforPM is talking about Neal not learning anything in the press box, and he is correct.

This is why I simply can't be bothered with these "stats". To me, Calgary had the puck more and controlled the pace more often.

Sometimes it works like that, but most of the time it does not. I think there was a bigger difference in last night's game than in Game #1 on the basis of score effects. The Flames looked like a good road team in this game, while in Game #1 the same cannot be said—the Canucks appeared to me in that game consistently overmatched. There was a fairly obvious skill-gap in that game which was accurately reflected in the underlying numbers. Last night was different.

I wanted to ask something of the CP collective as regards advanced stats.

Would Kent Nilsson have been considered an advanced stats darling?

He's always sort of represented for me the epitome of a guy with all the talent in the world (and who could directly apply it to the scoresheet), but also a tin-man who couldn't / wouldn't do it night in night out.

When he was traded during the offseason it effectively removed (IIRC) 98 points from our lineup. Not utterly dissimilar to losing Hamilton as a top NHL point producer for D.

Yet it was in the subsequent years that we became an elite franchise. I have to wonder what the advanced stats folks would have made of the deal at the time.

Anyway, it's been kind of bugging me - the "intangible" aspect, or "addition by subtraction", and I wanted to know the takes of the people here.